The Day Our Words Finally Held Hands

For sixty endless minutes, I stood in your hometown,

With a pink rose in my hand, and a heart that wouldn’t calm down.

The streets kept moving, the clocks refused to slow,

But I was waiting for one beautiful face I had waited so long to know.

I wondered how you’d look, how your smile would appear,

Would you be just as beautiful as the girl I’d held so dear?

Then there you were, dressed in white, with flowers woven through,

And suddenly, the whole damn world looked beautiful because of you.

Your smile was like a sunrise breaking through the grey,

Your eyes held little universes I could get lost in every day.

And there I stood in white, with nervous eyes behind my glasses,

A boy who’d rehearsed a thousand lines, forgetting every one as you passed him.

I gave you that pink rose, but here’s what you should know,

It wasn’t just a flower; it was everything I couldn’t show.

For all those nights of talking, all those feelings left unsaid,

Had finally found a moment where two hearts could meet instead.

We went to watch a movie, sitting closer than before,

Yet I barely knew the storyline playing upon the screen anymore.

Our fingers found each other, and my world began to glow,

I traced each little line upon your fingers, taking my time to know.

I rested my head upon your shoulder, so peacefully, so true,

As if every road I’d travelled had been leading me to you.

The theatre had its stories, but mine was being written there,

In the silence of our little touches, in the comfort that we shared.

Then came our lunch at Wow! Momo, such a beautiful little scene,

Perhaps the sweetest lunch I’d had, though nothing fancy in between.

A little mayonnaise touched my lips, and before I could even see,

You wiped it with your tissue, so effortlessly, tenderly.

It was such a tiny gesture, but it meant the world to me,

For love sometimes lives in moments no one else can see.

No diamonds, no grand promises, no roses falling from above,

Just you cleaning my lips, and me falling deeper into love.

And oh, that railway platform, how I wish the trains would wait,

For the cruelest thing about a beautiful day is watching it end too late.

I pulled you into my arms and held you close to me,

As if one final hug could keep you here eternally.

Before you boarded that train, I held your hand once more,

And kissed it like a thousand times I’d wished to do before.

I watched you leave, concealing all the words I couldn’t say,

While my heart kept whispering, “Please don’t let this be our only day.”

You wore white, like a dream that heaven sent my way,

I wore my nervous smile, hoping you’d choose to stay.

You were petite, with a smile that could soften any storm,

And I was just a bespectacled boy, finding in your presence a home.

You had your beautiful bangles, your floral dress, your grace,

I had my restless heartbeat and the memory of your face.

And somewhere between your smile and my fingers holding yours,

We turned a talking stage into something worth waiting for.

Perhaps the movie will fade, perhaps the lunch will be forgotten,

Perhaps the streets will change, and flowers will be rotten.

But I’ll remember that first meeting, every second, every view,

The boy who waited an hour, just to spend a day with you.

And if someone asks me when our little story truly began,

I’ll tell them it wasn’t in a text, nor in some distant plan.

It began with a pink rose, a white dress, and a beautiful view,

The day I finally stopped imagining you…

And got to hold your hand instead of just wishing I could do.

© NILOY SHOUVIC ROY